The present invention relates to a remotely controlled window and door locking device for the simultaneous locking and unlocking of the doors and windows of a house or other building.
Conventional houses and the like are generally equipped with individual locks or latches for each of their exterior doors and windows which must be locked independently before leaving the house unattended. In numerous instances one or more doors or windows are overlooked and remain as the usual entry means of a burglar. Although the locking of doors and windows would not likely discourage a professional burglar, the great majority of burglars are amateurs who would usually be dissuaded from breaking into a house which had all of its doors and windows in a locked position.
There are several known systems for simultaneously locking all of the doors in a building from a remotely located master control point in order to better ensure the locking of all such doors. U.S. Pat. No. 656,341, Carleton, Aug. 21, 1900, discloses a series of electrically operated locks simultaneously controlled from a common point, and having a plurality of respective alarms which are triggered on when locks are so operated. The latter device is designed to unlock fire escape doors in a hotel or other building, and signal the room occupant of both the operation of the locks and the existence of a fire, but is not intended for a building security system. Thus Carleton does not disclose a means for preventing operation of a lock in the event a door is left ajar, a lock which is applicable to windows as well as doors, nor does it disclose a remote indicator system to indicate when doors or windows are left ajar upon operation of the locks.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,648, Hatcher, Oct. 9, 1956 discloses a plurality of solenoid actuated locks adapted to be simultaneously operated from a common point and particularly designed to lock and unlock the windows and doors of a motor vehicle. The Hatcher device does not have a display to indicate when doors or windows are left open, a local control feature to allow operation of individual locks independently of the master control unit, a manual override control to allow individual doors and windows to be unlocked in the event of a power failure, or a display to indicate whether or not individual doors or windows are in an opened or locked position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,187, Wolz, Jan. 15, 1974, discloses a plurality of deadbolts associated with each of a plurality of swinging doors, the swinging doors being simultaneously locked or unlocked from a remotely controlled point and a safety switch controlled by each door to prevent operation of the deadbolts until their associated door is closed, following which the associated plurality of deadbolts are automatically triggered into a locking position. Wolz also discloses the use of signal lamps at the remote control point to indicate whether each door is locked or unlocked and whether each associated deadbolt is active or inactive. However, Wolz does not describe a device applicable to windows nor does it incorporate a local control feature to allow independent unlocking of individual doors. Finally, Wolz fails to disclose a manual override control to allow unlocking of individual doors and windows in the event of a power failure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a remotely controlled locking device applicable to both doors and windows, having a display proximate to a master control point to indicate whether any of the doors and windows is ajar, and a local control feature which allows independent unlocking of individual doors and windows when the master control has triggered on the locking of the device and manual override controls to unlock individual doors and windows in the event of a power failure.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a remotely controlled locking device having retaining means to prevent movement of the locking elements when any of the doors or windows is ajar or other than in a predetermined open position.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a remotely controlled locking device conveniently operable from a master control panel and effective to control therefrom all of the doors and windows within the locking system.